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Honest opinion on Heron Hull please.


Tracy D'arth

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A hull and boat builder that I have no experience of is Heron.

 

I recognise the fancy piercing in the rudder but what is the opinion of the boats as a whole?

 

Say mid noughties build decade, 57 to 60 foot trads.

 

Pal is considering a couple of Herons, both male I think!

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1 hour ago, Sea Dog said:

Oh dear! I hope you Keep Yourself Alive and don't have a Sheer Heart Attack..! 

Its worryingly "Another one bites the dust " usually.  I was at Freddie's memorial concert, very moving.

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We were asked to do some warranty work for one of their boats, shortly before they went under. We replaced all the flooring which was lino, and had warped and bubbled, also an amount of hatch linings (MDF) that had blown,  a new worktop as the original was coming apart, and various random bits like catches etc. The boat was in its first year since launch. The gas locker was permanently wet also. 

They closed up without paying up. It didn't help us in our early days.

Edited to add,  its possible it was a one off bad build during a time they were presumably quietly struggling,  I don't know,  its the only heron boat I have been on. 

 

Edited by Ally
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10 hours ago, Ally said:

We were asked to do some warranty work for one of their boats, shortly before they went under. We replaced all the flooring which was lino, and had warped and bubbled, also an amount of hatch linings (MDF) that had blown,  a new worktop as the original was coming apart, and various random bits like catches etc. The boat was in its first year since launch. The gas locker was permanently wet also. 

They closed up without paying up. It didn't help us in our early days.

Edited to add,  its possible it was a one off bad build during a time they were presumably quietly struggling,  I don't know,  its the only heron boat I have been on. 

 

Thanks for that. Its not looking good for a sale of the Heron boats then is it? Any good points to mention?  I think he is more concerned about the hull steel.

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4 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

  I think he is more concerned about the hull steel.

Yes, we have had helpful comments about the quality, or lack of, of of interior fittings, but not about the hulls themselves, which was what the original question pertained to.

 

Did Heron build their own hulls/ shells, or did they buy them in? If the latter, from whom?

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10 minutes ago, Tracy D'arth said:

Thanks for that. Its not looking good for a sale of the Heron boats then is it? Any good points to mention?  I think he is more concerned about the hull steel.

TBH with a boat of that age there are so many variables only a good survey is going to answer that. 

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5 minutes ago, Athy said:

Yes, we have had helpful comments about the quality, or lack of, of of interior fittings, but not about the hulls themselves, which was what the original question pertained to.

 

Did Heron build their own hulls/ shells, or did they buy them in? If the latter, from whom?

I was under the impression that they built their own.

When they sold up there was a lot of heavy gear sold off. They had a lift for loading hulls onto lorries and welders and such for sale.

Edited by Tracy D'arth
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Yes I'm fairly certain they built their own. The one I knew wasn't well designed as far as the gas locker went. It had been wet since launch we were told, and was certainly wet and rusty when we saw it, so that's something I would be looking at. Again it may have been a one off.

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1 hour ago, Ally said:

Yes I'm fairly certain they built their own. The one I knew wasn't well designed as far as the gas locker went. It had been wet since launch we were told, and was certainly wet and rusty when we saw it, so that's something I would be looking at. Again it may have been a one off.

 

Isnt that quite common though?

 

Our Colecraft shelled boat had this issue, particularly with a full water tank and gas bottles. The resulting locker floor corrosion was mentioned on the last BSS before we sold the boat and we paid to have it rectified before it went on sale.

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2 hours ago, Tracy D'arth said:

Thanks for that. Its not looking good for a sale of the Heron boats then is it? Any good points to mention?  I think he is more concerned about the hull steel.

 

2 hours ago, Athy said:

Yes, we have had helpful comments about the quality, or lack of, of of interior fittings, but not about the hulls themselves, which was what the original question pertained to.

 

Did Heron build their own hulls/ shells, or did they buy them in? If the latter, from whom?

My understanding is that Heron built their own hulls and they seem to be of pretty good standard (RUNE is a Heron boat). I don't know what their fit-outs were like because the RUNE hull was bought by Phil Abbot (Wharf House at Braunston) and he fitted it out.

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2 minutes ago, Wanderer Vagabond said:

 

My understanding is that Heron built their own hulls and they seem to be of pretty good standard (RUNE is a Heron boat). I don't know what their fit-outs were like because the RUNE hull was bought by Phil Abbot (Wharf House at Braunston) and he fitted it out.

If Phil Abbot thought that they were good enough for him to fit out they can't be so bad, thanks. What are the good and bad points about Rune's hull? Are all the rubbing strakes continuously welded on their bottoms?

 

Wet forward gas lockers seem to be common. If the spill scuppers are low and the boat is heavily loaded the bow wave often encroaches into the locker. Even the condensation can cause a pool of water.

I have given up wriggling into bows to de-rust and paint, worried that one time I won't get out again.

 

Its little things like door hinges, locker lids, fender eyes, vents etc. that annoy me if not "right".

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1 minute ago, Tracy D'arth said:

If Phil Abbot thought that they were good enough for him to fit out they can't be so bad, thanks. What are the good and bad points about Rune's hull? Are all the rubbing strakes continuously welded on their bottoms?

 

Wet forward gas lockers seem to be common. If the spill scuppers are low and the boat is heavily loaded the bow wave often encroaches into the locker. Even the condensation can cause a pool of water.

I have given up wriggling into bows to de-rust and paint, worried that one time I won't get out again.

 

Its little things like door hinges, locker lids, fender eyes, vents etc. that annoy me if not "right".

 

I was 99% sure I wouldn't have been able to get in or out, hence paying someone else to sort it. It is an issue though if they rot through as water can then fill the bilge as can any gas leaking from the locker pipework or connections.

 

ISTR there have been examples of boats sinking as a result of rotten locker floors. Rare I believe but it can happen.

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1 minute ago, The Happy Nomad said:

 

I was 99% sure I wouldn't have been able to get in or out, hence paying someone else to sort it. It is an issue though if they rot through as water can then fill the bilge as can any gas leaking from the locker pipework or connections.

 

ISTR there have been examples of boats sinking as a result of rotten locker floors. Rare I believe but it can happen.

True, I know of one boat that was over-plated and they forgot about the bow locker floor and it sank when relaunched as its freeboard was now less and the vents went under.

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6 hours ago, Tracy D'arth said:

If Phil Abbot thought that they were good enough for him to fit out they can't be so bad, thanks. What are the good and bad points about Rune's hull? Are all the rubbing strakes continuously welded on their bottoms?

 

Wet forward gas lockers seem to be common. If the spill scuppers are low and the boat is heavily loaded the bow wave often encroaches into the locker. Even the condensation can cause a pool of water.

I have given up wriggling into bows to de-rust and paint, worried that one time I won't get out again.

 

Its little things like door hinges, locker lids, fender eyes, vents etc. that annoy me if not "right".

Not only did Phil think it was good enough to fit out, RUNE was his boat for the first 7 years from 2000 until 2007, not that it went very far it seems to have spent most of it's time moored outside the Chandlery at Braunston he used to have.

 

Yes the forward gas locker does seem to have a continuous level of water in it although I've painted it with bilge paint and it seems to be holding up OK (I'll know for certain later this year, the BSS is due:unsure:). The hinge pin on the gas locker cover has rusted through (resulting in the cover itself once going overboard when changing a gas bottle at Brauston, that was fun to recover, not). The rubbing strakes are continuously welded and having had the opportunity to get up close and personal with most of the hull last year when I blacked it, all of the welds and the baseplate overlap are all holding up fine. The only real criticism I'd have of the boat is the she is a pig to reverse (aren't they all) and is not particularly quick (not a very important consideration for me at all). She seems fairly deep draughted so when on the Great Ouse last year even at the highest revs I would want to run the engine at, she didn't get much above 5mph.

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13 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

I think Phil used it as a hire boat to start with and then had 2 ladies full time moored at the yard

He never mentioned hiring it, but Valerie and Jean who moored it at his yard had bought it off him at that time (they had it from 2007 until 2011). From my last conversation with Phil, they obviously never intended to travel far from the Chandlery since they even had a phone line installed:huh:

 

Actually, having thought about it, I'd be surprised if RUNE had been used as a hire boat since when we got it, it only had 1100 hours on the engine which worked out at only about 85hours per year running time. The funny part about it is that with it not having travelled much I was astonished when I went past Bill Fen Marina near Ramsey and the guy riding on a mower cutting the grass called across,"Er, that's Phil's boat". Turns out that Phil fitted it out in Bill Fen Marina.

Edited by Wanderer Vagabond
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9 minutes ago, Wanderer Vagabond said:

He never mentioned hiring it, but Valerie and Jean who moored it at his yard had bought it off him at that time (they had it from 2007 until 2011). From my last conversation with Phil, they obviously never intended to travel far from the Chandlery since they even had a phone line installed:huh:

When they had it I never noticed it missing

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31 minutes ago, Wanderer Vagabond said:

No, I don't think phone line extensions are very long are they?:rolleyes:

When I bought Old Fiends, the previous owners had been in Braunston marina for quite a few years, the whole boat was fitted with telephone points, 5 I seem to remember removing from one end to the other.

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